Chapter 15
Lt. Jonathan Grey chose to walk up the ridge together with the men who were covering the perimeter defense. He could have easily stepped back into the multi-purpose vehicle and rode to the top, but the chance to walk, to feel strong legs beneath him, was too tempting to resist.
As he climbed he noticed the servo that powered his right knee was making a whine. The noise from the servo when he stepped with his right leg was slightly off pitch from what he would expect. Glancing down he could see fresh sand sticking to black silicone grease where it was oozing out from beneath the armored knee covering. Lt. Grey grinned inside his helmet where no one could see his face. Somehow, the thought of this private who was co-sharing his body with him, using Silicone grease to shortcut an Exo-Suit repair, made Grey feel that he knew him, or at least he knew his type.
This soldier was young, too young, and he was eager to please. He would rather take a short-cut on an Exo-Suit repair than risk delaying the squad as they were moving out on a convoy mission. And this soldier was scared. Grey figured anyone willing to take a large dose of Somnambutol and turn over bodily control to someone they do not know during a combat situation was doing it because they were scared. But fear is the common denominator here with all soldiers. They were all scared.
Grey felt the strong legs moving stride after stride and made a quiet promise to the Synapse Soldier, whose body he now controlled.
He said out loud, not sure if the Synapse Soldier had awareness of his words, “I’ll get you your body back, no worse for wear, I promise you that.”
As he reached the top of the ridge, he could begin to actually see the scene that the LASO had already laid out for him on the map displayed on the command console. The road below followed the rise and then turned slowly left at the rocky outcropping. From this new height on the rise, Grey was able to trace the line of vehicles in the convoy as they followed the road around this curve, and then around to the right as the road completed an ‘S’ curve navigating between the rise and the rocks.
“Comm-RAM is correct,” Grey thought trying to convince himself; trying to quiet his nagging instincts, “This is the perfect location to launch our artillery strike against the enemy combatants. Now it will be by the book.”
Grey could clearly see the enemy position on the right of the convoy. He knew there were also enemy positioned behind the rocks. The forward convoy defense squad was pinned down inside their multi-purpose vehicle under fire from both sides. Grey could see muzzle flashes from the old style automatic weapons favored by the combatants.
Grey started to deploy his resources, now that he was committed to the tactical attack plan specified by Comm-RAM he wanted to execute the plan as quickly as possible. Get them into position, and get them firing. Move to the next position and fire again. Nothing fancy here, nothing complicated.
Grey opened the Squad communication channel and spoke in a careful unexcited monotone, “Alpha, setup here and here.”
Grey indicated positions on top of the ridge where they could defend against a possible ground attack, although Grey did not think it likely. From this position on top of the ridge they had clear view of the battlefield in all directions. If the combatants tried to assault this position, it would be an uphill fight for them.
Next he wanted the .55MM artillery canon mounted on the multi-purpose vehicle needs to move into position.
Grey said, “Beta, move the vehicle here.”
Grey had the artillery moved into a position back enough from the ridge, so there was no way the enemy could target the multi-purpose vehicle below. The only possible point of attack would be from atop the rocky outcropping on the other side of the road. Lt. Grey looked across the natural divide at the rough rocks and thick boulders that made up the outcropping. It looked menacing. A rough hard place which had long been subjected to the cruel desert weather until nothing was left but the strongest of rocks. He did not trust it.
“And now we bring the storm,” Grey said, “Charlie, Commence fire on combatant positions.”
Grey watched the squad moving into position. They were moving quickly, efficiently. He was pleased; this was going well. The multi-purpose vehicle had stopped moving and Charlie in the artillery turret was now busy loading and preparing the .55MM canon to fire. Grey decided to go back behind the vehicle and read the updated telemetry from LASO off of the command console. He wanted to see if the enemy was re-positioning in response to his appearance on top of the ridge.
As Grey stepped behind the vehicle, he lost his balance and stumbled. Luckily he was able to grab hold of the ladder mounted to the rear of the vehicle and steady himself before he fell flat onto the ground. Lt. Grey scanned the ground in front him.
“Nothing,” he said to himself, “I did not trip over anything, something is wrong with the Exo-Suit, maybe it’s that knee servo locking up.”
Grey’s mind was working quickly. Charlie would be firing the Canon at any moment and when that happened, for better or worse, this squad would be in the fight. If they needed to move to attack, or move to retreat, then Grey needed to be able to move, and move quickly. This was no time for an Exo-Suit knee servo failure.
Grey carefully lifted his right leg and bent the knee, and then he repeated the motion with his left leg. Then holding the ladder mounted to the back of the vehicle to steady him, Grey did a full squat by bending at both knees until he seemed to be sitting, and then lifted himself back to a standing position again. The servos in his leg armor were working. The right knee was not optimal but the silicone gasket, used as a temporary fix by the Synapse Soldier who owned this body, was holding. Therefore, his stumble was an anomaly. Lt. Grey hated anomalies. Anomalies got men wounded or killed.
Moving over to the LASO display, Grey read the updated telemetry that was coming in from the LASO sensors which, by now, had drifted back to the ground and were scattered all across the battlefield. He immediately could see that something was wrong with the LASO readout. He was looking for the signature from his own squad on the map display. He should be able to clearly see Alpha moving on the ridge, and he should be able to see the multi-purpose vehicle, and even his own movements should be shown. In other areas of the map display the LASO system was working fine. He was seeing the disposition and movement around the forward column, and he could see the enemy combatants positioned behind the rocky outcropping. But here on the rise, where he was positioned with his squad, there was nothing. It was an information dead zone.
Either no LASO sensors had landed here, or the ones that landed nearby were not functioning. Either way, this was another anomaly.
Now Grey was worried. Alarm bells were ringing inside his head, but he did not know why. With no understanding of what was wrong, going back might be just as dangerous as staying here. He decided to stick to the plan. Get the squad into position; get them firing and then move.
Into the squad Communication system Lt. Grey repeated his previous order, “Charlie, fire that weapon.”
Instead of the satisfying CRACKING sound of a large caliber round firing at the combatants, Grey got back a very unsatisfying response, “Sir, Comm-RAM is still calculating the range and elevation; will fire when we have a solution.”
Grey was thinking, “Too long. It is taking too long to find the range and elevation.”
Again the alarm bells were sounding in his head. Something was wrong. Grey forcefully willed his mind to focus. To interpret the clues.
As he was thinking, Beta opened the driver side door of the vehicle and stepped out. Now that the vehicle was in position and the stabilizing tripod feet had been lowered, he was moving forward on foot to support the Alpha in the defensive position on the ridge.
Grey watched as he stepped down from the vehicle, and then moving quickly, he bounded off towards the top of the rise. When Beta stepped past the front of the vehicle he stumbled. Grey watched Beta flailing to grab hold of part of th
e vehicle. He tried to grab at the front bumper for support as Lt. Grey had done himself only moments earlier. Beta missed his hold and toppled over onto his back.
For Jonathan Grey it all clicked together in the same instant. All at once the pieces fit. Understanding washed over him as a single solid tsunami of dread. He now knew why he had stumbled when he stepped behind the vehicle and he knew why Beta had stumbled. It had nothing to do with faulty Exo-Suit knee servos. He also knew why there was no LASO telemetry on the rise and along the ridge, and why the Canon was taking too long to determine a firing solution.
The answer to all of these anomalies was wind; high wind.
Wind was being funneled by the natural terrain until it whipped over the rocky outcropping and then across this rise. Grey could see how the landscape of this battlefield had been fashioned by years of high wind moving through this area. The rocks on the other side of the divide were slowly being eroded by the wind. The rise upon which he had deployed his squad was protected from the high wind rocks on the other side of the divide, but by standing on top of the rise, the squad was exposed to the full gale force winds that pushed over the top of the rocks and then blasted across the top of the rise.
From inside the controlled environment of an Exo-Suit, Lt. Grey and the squad were insulated from the outside weather conditions. They could not feel the wind, and the sounds of wind blended with the normal background noises of the Exo-Suit, which was continually maintaining a positive internal pressure. Grey could not feel or hear the high wind that howled across their position, but now he was seeing the effects.
The change from high wind to no wind, when he walked behind the vehicle, was what caused him to stumble. And when Beta moved out from behind the protection of the vehicle, it was the high wind that knocked him over.
The same high wind had swept the LASO sensors off of the rise, making this an information dead zone on the LASO map display. It was the same high wind that was causing the targeting system on the .55MM canon to continually attempt to compensate with elevation and direction, and therefore taking an unusually long time to gain an accurate firing solution.
Now Grey knew. He understood why the alarm bells were sounding in his head and why the combatants had lured his squad onto this rise. The wind itself was not a threat, but wind mixed with sand was a real danger. A sandstorm could cause massive equipment failures across the squad. They would be trapped inside the heavy Exo-suits. Sand would overwhelm the breathing filters and make it difficult to get fresh air. Sand carried by high wind would erode the vulnerable points at the joints and across the hydraulics causing servo breakdowns that would then make it difficult to move. They would be immobilized.
Grey did not bother to suppress the emotion and urgency from his next order, “Squad, back to the vehicle! Now; everyone, back to the vehicle!”
Beta paused. He had managed to right himself and was preparing to continue on his way to the ridge. But now the unexpected order from Lt. Grey had stopped him in his tracks.
Grey screamed the next order, “Retreat!”
But the sound of Grey’s command could not be heard, because at that same moment the combatants detonated the bombs that were buried on top of the rocky outcropping.
Rocks, debris, and sand burst upwards creating a cloud that darkened the sky. Now the high wind became a weapon. First large chunks of rocks began to rain down. Grey pushed his Exo-Suit up against the side of the transport vehicle for protection from the falling rocks.
Grey knew he would survive because he had the vehicle between himself and the sandstorm. His thoughts were with the squad; the men who were positioned out on the ridge, and Charlie who was up on top of the vehicle in the turret. These soldiers only had only their Exo-Suits for protection.
Leaving the Comm system open in hopes that he would hear something over the noise, he urged the squad to come back to the vehicle, “Move; move; move; back to the vehicle,” he urged, calling out into the Comm system.
Lt. Grey thought for a moment he heard men screaming in response, but then he realized it was not a human voice. It was the sound of the metal skin on the multi-purpose vehicle slowly peeling away.
The sand had come.